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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (3221)	5/22/2004 2:53:56 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

More American kids attend bilingual classes Enrolment in elementary schools has risen as the US realises the importance of learning a foreign language - and at an earlier age NEW YORK - It's a typical afternoon for the xiao pengyou - or little friends - at Shuang Wen, a dual-language English-Mandarin public school near New York's Chinatown. Kindergarten children practise writing Chinese characters. Advertisement A six-year-old whose parents are Mexican and English practises a five-minute speech entirely in Mandarin. Upstairs, a class of 10-year-olds read poems by Du Fu, the Tang dynasty poet. 'Making the words sound good isn't so hard,' says 11-year-old Jelani Carter, his face framed by braids. 'Writing is the hardest.' Traditionally, most students in the United States start learning a second language at 14. But the US is realising the importance of foreign language education - and of starting that language training earlier. From 1987 to 1997, foreign language instruction in elementary schools increased nearly 10 per cent, according to the Centre for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington. Shuang Wen, meaning 'two cultures', opened in 1998. Both English and Mandarin are used at the bilingual public school. During the school day, the 311 students in kindergarten through to those aged 11 follow the city's standard curriculum in English. After school, a second set of teachers conducts classes in Mandarin. In US secondary schools, Spanish accounts for almost 70 per cent of all language enrolments in grades 7 to 12 (ages 13 to 18), according to a 2000 report by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language. French, German and Latin follow, in order of popularity. But Ms Nancy Rhodes, foreign language director at CAL, says there is increasing interest in languages that are emerging as globally important. The private sector has also realised the importance of a global perspective on education. Mr Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of News Corporation, which owns Fox News and The Times newspaper in London, has committed US$500,000 (about S$850,000) to help Shuang Wen expand into a middle school and ultimately high school. Shuang Wen's Chinese after-school and summer programmes are free but its annual budget of about US$250,000 is supported by grants from the Department of Education, New York State and the Soros Foundation. About 80 per cent of Shuang Wen's students are of Chinese descent, most of them born in the US. Of the rest, about 10 per cent are African-American and 5 per cent each are white and Hispanic. Shuang Wen's principal Ling Ling Chow says the school aims to achieve a 50-50 balance of Chinese and non-Chinese students. Mr Lydell Carter, the father of Jelani, who is African-American, says: 'We're living in a global society. It's a distinct advantage if a child can speak more than one language.' Shuang Wen's academic record and international perspective now have parents lining up to enrol their children. Ms Paula Grande enrolled her daughter, who was adopted from China, in Shuang Wen, saying that Mandarin 'will open up worlds to her and other children'. Ms Grande also says the school has contributed to her daughter's appreciation of her Chinese heritage. She recalls that one Chinatown shopkeeper was so delighted with Youjing's conversational Mandarin that he gave her a discount on a backpack. The small rewards of Mandarin, parents hope, will turn into larger ones down the road. -- Financial Times straitstimes.asia1.com.sg